I'm sorry, but even within that context there is still no equivalence.
Dole had spent half his life on Capitol Hill by the time he was running for President in '96. He had already completed multiple terms in both the House and Senate.
Sarah was able to run on the national presidential ticket while simultaneously juggling her gubernatorial responsibilities in Alaska.
Now the election has been over for eight months, and she is claiming "victory" over ethics complaints against her. Yet she still wants to walk away from her job as Governor in the middle of her FIRST term...??
Even if the waits till the new Governor is sworn in, she will still have nearly two years of free time to run for President.
And she can still lay the groundwork will serving in public office. Good Lord, everyone does that sort of thing nowadays.
She has now allowed her enemies and detractors to label her a "quitter".
When people complain ask them if they wanted to cover her rising legal bills........ and ask how they would like their children being publicly mocked and then when she defended them the GOP, which should have been speaking out against the crap, criticizes her for being too thin-skinned; as a matter of fact, what would people be saying if comedians were mocking Meghan McCain for being fat and stupid? Even though she is an adult I imagine all hell would break loose.
I still haven’t seen any reason why one person who resigns is labeled a “quitter” and someone else who does isn’t labeled a quitter.
The truth of the matter is that Palin is being labeled a quitter by those who don’t like her, who want to destroy her, and they don’t have anything valid. Resigning office for whatever reason is extremely common. Perhaps if you want to support your position, try to find links that support your position, where politicians other than Palin are called a quitter. I’ve found one that supports my position.
Now, you can go find one.